The climate is changing, and will continue to change, as a result of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Regardless of how quickly we reduce our emissions, a certain amount of change is now inevitable, and there will be implications for society and the businesses that serve it. Clearly, the faster we can cut emissions the lower the impact will be, but we’re now in an era of balancing action to mitigate our emissions with our plans to adapt to changes that are around the corner.

The International Energy Association (IEA) released its latest World Energy Outlook this week. The report provides clear evidence of the ongoing changes in the global energy markets - with a predicted increase in the energy mix from low carbon and renewable technologies.

It also highlights that more will need to be done. In particular, negotiations at the Paris climate conference (COP 21) in December need to focus on building the policy and regulatory conditions to help move towards a low carbon energy sector.

The report is particularly timely as the World Meteorological Organization also announced this week that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have reached 400 parts per million,a record high for the 30th year in a row.

We know that to limit increases in atmospheric CO2 we need to limit burning fossil fuels. This will be supported by an increase in the development of renewable energy generation. But global energy demand is also predicted to increase (grow by one-third to 2040). With this in mind, what are the key findings of the IEA’s report?